Hear me out: summer is absolutely the best time of year for puppy chow. You make it, you freeze it, and you enjoy that salty-sweet crispityness whenever you feel like you need a cold hit of chocolate, peanut butter, and crunch.
Puppy chow is just one of those simple pleasures that takes a hangout / cabin weekend / road trip / evening at home on the couch to a better emotional place, know what I mean? No situation can’t be made better with a handful of this happy little snack.
I’m a child of the 90s and I grew up in the Midwest, so yes, I’m experienced in this area.
Puppy chow is best when it’s:
- EXTRA COLD
- EXTRA CRISP
- EXTRA CHOCOLATEY
- EXTRA CLUSTERED
Let me present to you how I think puppy chow should always look:
Beautiful, chunky clusters.
The puppy chow I grew up with was more like individual pieces of cereal that were completely coated with powdered sugar. It was served room temperature and you ate it one piece at a time.
But do you know what’s even more fun? If you go for MORE chocolate and MORE peanut butter and MORE butter, you’re going to get MORE sticking-together, and that’s going to create magical little clusters. And if you make it very cold, it’s… well, it’s a thick and crispy little bite that is just super delicious.
That jumbo cluster you’re looking at in that picture is just a grown up’s version of the original. This stays true to the basics but just dials up everything good: the chocolate, the peanut butter, the butter. It gives just a little more excitement with the texture, the shape, the temperature. It makes for supremely satisfying grazing. It’s a real delight.
What Is Puppy Chow
For those who are young or non-Midwesterners, Puppy Chow, also known as Muddy Buddies, is a snack (dessert? prized possession? Wiki calls it a “homemade candy” – lol) that is made by coating crispy cereal like Rice Chex in melted chocolate peanut butter mixture and tossing it with powdered sugar. It’s meant to be eaten by the handful, like a dessert-y version of Chex Mix.
It is one of the great Midwestern food contributions of the 80s and 90s (my roots!) and because of my strong opinions on freezing it, I’m making my case today that it’s the perfect sweet snack / fun thing that you should be making to bring joy into your life for these last few weeks of summer.
I’m calling this “Extra Good” – it only differs from the recipes on the back of the Chex boxes by having a lot more of that chocolate-peanut-butter coating, therefore making it extra thick, extra clustery, extra delish.
How To Make Puppy Chow
Make a Chocolate Mixture
First: melt chocolate, peanut butter, and butter in a big bowl. Microwave works fine. This is the Midwest. We are not fancy.
Melted chocolate goes in with the cereal.
Mix Chocolate with Cereal
Stir it up until it’s coated.
ABSOLUTELY NO PIECE LEFT BEHIND.
Toss with Powdered Sugar
Once the cereal is coated, toss it with powdered sugar so each piece is coated and dry enough to touch.
Midwestern kids of the 90s (hello) will agree with me that mixing the chocolate coated cereal in a paper grocery bag is the authentic and proper technique. I mean, is it really puppy chow without the paper bag?
But in reality, any big bag (ziplock, paper bag, even a big mixing bowl that you can toss very gently so as not to break the cereal) will get the job done.
Chill Time
Finally, transfer it to some kind of surface where it can “dry” aka set into little bites of crispy delicious chocolate peanut butter heaven.
I normally use a couple baking sheets lined with parchment which I then transfer to the freezer because FROZEN PUPPY CHOW IS LIFE CHANGING.
(For optimal clustering, so don’t spread it out too much! just kind of let it lay how it wants to lay and the freezing process will help the clusters form.)
How To Store Puppy Chow
Absolutely store this addictive bounty in the freezer. I keep it in airtight containers (like a lidded plastic food storage container, for example) or just in a Ziplock bag.
Yes, the fridge works, the counter will even work. But the freezer is WHERE IT’S AT for an extra crispity satisfying crunch. Plus, it travels well and makes it last longer.
Puppy chow (especially out of the freezer) is the absolute perfect snack to grab for:
- cabin weekends
- road trips
- bonfire snacking
- pool days
- kids and teenagers in general (we don’t often have teenagers in our house, but recently we did and when we brought the puppy chow out, there were actual cheers and then it was pounded)
- just grabbing a cluster or five for a little cool crunchy treat after dinner
Oh, the joy and delight of that extra-chocolatey cold crunch! I hope this helps you live a little more lightly in August. HAPPY MUNCHING.
Print
Extra Good Puppy Chow
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 16-18 cups of puppy chow! THE MOTHER LOAD
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 box rice Chex cereal (about 10 cups)
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups powdered sugar (more as needed / desired)
Instructions
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter at 30 second intervals until smooth and melted.
- Stir in the vanilla and salt.
- Pour chocolate over cereal – this recipe makes a very large batch so I do this in two big bowls.
- Use a wooden spoon to gently mix the cereal with the chocolate, being careful not to break the cereal.
- Place the powdered sugar in the bottom of a paper grocery bag. Pour the chocolate coated cereal over the top of the powdered sugar (yes, just dump it right in). Shake the bag gently to coat all the peices with powdered sugar.
- Transfer to a couple of baking sheets, or just lay it out on parchment paper to cool and set. I highly recommend storing this in the freezer for the best clustering and most satisfying crunch!
Notes
If the paper bag is weirding you out, that’s fine – just use a couple plastic Ziplock bags instead. (They are smaller so you’ll need to work in several small batches.)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
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